BILL NUMBER: AB 2082	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Dahle and Chesbro

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2014

   An act to repeal and add Section 4561.1 of the Public Resources
Code, relating to forest practices.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2082, as introduced, Dahle. Forest practices: resource
conservation standards: stocking standards.
   The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person
from conducting timber operations on timberland unless a timber
harvesting plan has been prepared by a registered professional
forester and has been submitted to the Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection and approved by the Director of Forestry and Fire
Protection or the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.
   Existing law establishes minimum acceptable stocking standards and
provides that an area covered by a timber harvesting plan is
considered acceptably stocked if certain conditions are met within 5
years after completion of timber operations, including that the area
contains an average point count of 300 per acre, as provided.
Existing law requires the board to adopt stocking standards for each
district, after a public hearing, that are equal to or stricter than
the minimum standards.
   This bill would delete that requirement and instead authorize the
board to adopt alternative stocking standards if those alternative
standards are necessary to address variables in forest
characteristics, as provided.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 4561.1 of the Public Resources Code is
repealed. 
   4561.1.  The resource conservation standards relating to stocking
enumerated in Section 4561 shall constitute minimum requirements, and
these shall be the standards to which all timber harvesting plans
shall conform unless the board adopts higher stocking standards for
each district. The board shall adopt standards for each district,
after a public hearing, which are equal to or stricter than the
standards of this chapter and shall report such standards to the
Legislature.
   It is not the intent of the Legislature in designating minimum
standards that such standards shall be deemed to be preferred as the
standards to be adopted by the board. The board may, by a majority
vote as provided in Section 736, adopt higher minimum standards of
stocking if, in the opinion of the board, growing conditions, tree
species, site quality, or other factors justify such stricter
standards and if such action is consistent with the purposes of this
article. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 4561.1 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
   4561.1.  Notwithstanding the resource conservation standards
relating to stocking enumerated in Section 4561, the board may adopt
alternative stocking standards to meet the purposes of Section 4561
if those alternative standards are necessary to address the variables
in forest characteristics.